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> The whole point of the parent comment was that there is no benefit for 'our species' Spreading across n>1 planets would literally move our species up on the

> The whole point of the parent comment was that there is no benefit for 'our species' Spreading across n>1 planets would literally move our species up on the Kardashev scale. Achieving that is one of the very few things anyone is doing on this planet, which is fundamentally beneficial to our species. > Also, putting more economic and political power in the hands of the many instead of concentrating it all in afew hundreds or thousands of people would go a much longer way towards improving our species. “The best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” - Winston Churchill. I'm not defending the actions of most of those wealthy individuals, but handing the reigns of power to the masses is a historically proven recipe for failure. Moreso now than ever with the advent of ML driven voter manipulation. And singling out Musk is laughable. Musk and Gates are perhaps the only two that aren't cartoon level evil villains. I don't understand how anyone could possibly be shitting on Musk for his Mars vision, even if it's folly, when all the other people with comparable wealth are too busy rigging elections, fucking up the poor, and destroying our natural resources.

tsimionescu 7y ago
The Kardashev scale is essentially sci-fi. In a couple hundred years when we have an actual chance of having a functioning colony on a planet and not some playground for a handful of people, there will be a measurable advantage to humanity for this. And democracy, even as limited as it is today, has been the only system which has brought any amount of peace around here. And I'm not attacking Musk specifically, he is just very visible, and happens to be the subject of this article. But I do not believe anyone is worth a billion dollars in their own merits, even if Musk is perhaps not the worst one.
- missosoup 7y ago
  > The Kardashev scale is essentially sci-fi. Okay. And we're embarking on a mission that would achieve an 'essentially sci-fi' objective. With the funding of a billionaire that you chose to shit on over the rest, that instead embark on.... Sex crimes? Petty regional politics? Rent seeking? Expanding their empires? Setting their offspring up to follow in their steps? I don't follow.
  - tsimionescu 7y ago
    Again, I'm not particularly hostile to Musk, he was just the one who came up. Do you want me to list some others I dislike? The surviving Koch brother, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and many others are very bad as well. To me, a Mars mission is going to be as impactful to the vast majority of humankind as a fraction of how important the discovery of the Americas was the peasantry of Europe (since the Americas were at least immediately habitable). It would be little comfort to know that there is a little colony on Mars, completely dependent on Earth exports while the Earth itself is declining around us. If we don't solve the climate crisis on Earth, there will be no Mars colony, not in th curent world, I hope this much is clear.
    - iso1210 7y ago
      For Musk's plan to succeed he needs to advance solar power and co2 extraction. Those two things alone will massively help the planet.
- mLuby 7y ago
  Whether individuals shouldn't be worth billions is orthogonal to whether governments or companies should spend money on opening new technological and territorial frontiers. The Kardashev Scale is just a scale, like the Richter Scale. It's not sci-fi, though there being aliens at higher levels on that scale is.

tsimionescu 7y ago

The Kardashev scale is essentially sci-fi. In a couple hundred years when we have an actual chance of having a functioning colony on a planet and not some playground for a handful of people, there will be a measurable advantage to humanity for this. And democracy, even as limited as it is today, has been the only system which has brought any amount of peace around here. And I'm not attacking Musk specifically, he is just very visible, and happens to be the subject of this article. But I do not believe anyone is worth a billion dollars in their own merits, even if Musk is perhaps not the worst one.

missosoup 7y ago
> The Kardashev scale is essentially sci-fi. Okay. And we're embarking on a mission that would achieve an 'essentially sci-fi' objective. With the funding of a billionaire that you chose to shit on over the rest, that instead embark on.... Sex crimes? Petty regional politics? Rent seeking? Expanding their empires? Setting their offspring up to follow in their steps? I don't follow.
- tsimionescu 7y ago
  Again, I'm not particularly hostile to Musk, he was just the one who came up. Do you want me to list some others I dislike? The surviving Koch brother, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and many others are very bad as well. To me, a Mars mission is going to be as impactful to the vast majority of humankind as a fraction of how important the discovery of the Americas was the peasantry of Europe (since the Americas were at least immediately habitable). It would be little comfort to know that there is a little colony on Mars, completely dependent on Earth exports while the Earth itself is declining around us. If we don't solve the climate crisis on Earth, there will be no Mars colony, not in th curent world, I hope this much is clear.
  - iso1210 7y ago
    For Musk's plan to succeed he needs to advance solar power and co2 extraction. Those two things alone will massively help the planet.
mLuby 7y ago
Whether individuals shouldn't be worth billions is orthogonal to whether governments or companies should spend money on opening new technological and territorial frontiers. The Kardashev Scale is just a scale, like the Richter Scale. It's not sci-fi, though there being aliens at higher levels on that scale is.